1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handwritten information input apparatus with a GUI screen, and more particularly relates to a handwritten information input apparatus that allows inputting and displaying of a handwritten pattern using a pointing device such as a stylus, a tablet and a mouse and that gives operating instructions for an application program by the operation of a menu on a screen.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, an information processing apparatus with a GUI screen has been widely used. In the information processing apparatus with a GUI screen, the predominantly used interface is in a type of operating an object and a menu displayed on the screen by a direct instruction using a coordinate input device such as a mouse. As the coordinate input device, a device that designates coordinates on a tablet overlaid on a screen using a stylus is available, as well as a device that allows directly inputting by handwriting on a GUI screen.
As handwritten input applications, a drawing tool, an electronic white board program and the like enabling the input of handwriting are known. According to these handwritten drawing programs, a handwritten pattern written on a screen is saved and displayed, and at the same time edit commands have to be executed so as to delete or move the already-input drawn data. Therefore, both of the handwriting and the edit commands have to be input using a common coordinate input device.
To this end, as in FIG. 8A showing a general example, the switching between a drawing mode and edit modes (e.g., a selection mode and a moving mode) is performed by selecting a menu 91 provided at an edge of an application screen 90, for example. Herein, the menu located at an edge of the screen may cause inconvenience because the moving amount between the respective operation positions is large, and therefore a floating menu 92, overlaid on the screen 90, may be used as shown in FIG. 8B. Such a floating menu is useful for enhancing the operability because the menu for selecting commands can be placed in close vicinity to the operation position on the screen for inputting of handwriting or the like.
When a floating menu is arranged on the screen, however, there is a problem that the menu hides a part of the screen from view. For instance, in the example of FIG. 9A, although the character string of ┌┘ is input on the screen 90 with the handwritten pattern, the character ┌┘ is hidden behind the floating menu 92. In order to allow a user to see the display hidden behind the menu, the floating menu 92 may be displayed in a semitransparent state as shown in FIG. 9B. As a technology analogous to this, JP 2004-54589 A discloses a transparent soft keyboard. In this way, when the menu or the like overlaid on the screen can be displayed in a semitransparent state as required, the menu will not interfere with the sight of a user on the screen, and the user can keep the menu handy and operate it easily.